Melissa Reubens, age 24, was executed in the electric chair this afternoon at 3pm local time at Lexington Fields State Prison, which famously keeps its location secret. The execution was conducted by Captain Delana Larson, and was overseen by Warden Beheader, with a room full of about a dozen witnesses on the other side of a glass divider.
Witnesses report that while her execution was conducted with utmost compassion and professionalism, she did fight the guards at every step possible. As the inmate was unable to select her method of execution during her intake interview, she was unaware of which method had been selected for her, and did not know until the moment she saw the chair for the first time.
According to the witnesses, Ms. Reubens was in a state of extreme panic when the door opened. The front of her uniform was already visibly damp where she had lost her urinary control. She screamed and begged during the entire process, despite having been given multiple doses of sedatives and calming drugs. When asked for last words, she kept repeating “please don’t kill me” in a strained voice. Her screams became louder when the generator was started, but went silent with one last scream of pain when the current began flowing through her head and body. She was neither moving nor breathing after the first shock, but was given two more as part of the regular process. Captain Larson later estimated that Ms. Reubens died within the first five seconds of the first shock. The second round caused the inmate’s mouth to foam violently, while the third one caused the same, plus excessive bleeding from the mouth, indicating destruction of multiple internal organs. Postmortem inspection also found bruising in her upper arms where she had struggled against the guards, and where each restraining strap of the electric chair had held her down during the natural convulsions.
The body of Ms. Reubens was transported to her hometown for immediate burial, pictured above in this article. Photos taken during her execution are available on her page on Inmate Files.